Local women part of battle to save oceans

An invitation from her neighbor in Weston was what got Mary Alice Karol involved in a brainstorming session about the need to help oceans.

Having grown up on Lake Erie, Karol said she saw what introducing zebra mussels to a very dirty lake could do.

"It’s extra clean now and healthy," said Karol, of Dedham. "I always thought if that could be cleaned up, anything can."

But what really pushed her to get involved in the group called Women Working for Oceans was her concern about all the plastics that end up in the ocean, on the beach, or ingested by marine life. She said W2O is very involved with other organizations, working together with companies, legislators and others to get their message of education and conservation out. The organization recently held its "The Heart of Hope: A Quest to Save Our Seas" on May 16 where they announced the winner of W2O’s first Ocean Spirit Award to a deserving local woman and four of her students as champions for the ocean.

"We want to be out there," Karol said. "Whether we march or go to the State House or do a beach cleanup, the more we get involved with other organizations, the stronger we will be."

She said climate change is one of the biggest threats facing the oceans and environment in general.

"We haven’t taken the best care of it in our generation but I think it’s changing," said Karol.

She said in the six years the group has grown from that handful meeting together, they are actually seeing progress from cities banning plastic bags to education and people taking ocean preservation seriously. Even something as seemingly innocuous as how fish is cooked can make a difference. The group has had famous chefs come to teach people how to properly cook fish and make an impact on overfishing.

"In the classes you learn the proper way to cook fish so it doesn’t shrink," Karol said. "If you cook fish, you can feed two people, but if you cook it properly it could feed a family of four."

Karol added that someone once pointed out that before there was paper or plastic bags at grocery stores, people typically brought a basket from home.

"People are so much more aware of where they throw garbage and how to recycle," Karol said. "The more we go back to the basics, the better it will be for the environment and our children and our children’s children."

For Linda Cabot of Westwood, growing up on the water was part of what formed her desire to get involved with preservation.

"I’ve been a lifelong sailor," Cabot said. "I fell in love with the ocean when I was a little girl. I became increasingly aware about threats the ocean is facing."

Seven years ago, with her teenage daughters in tow, the family sailed up the coast of Maine interviewing ocean experts for a documentary that continues to be shown on Maine television stations.

"It was more like a home movie on steroids," Cabot said. "It was called ‘From the Bow Seat’ because I would sit in the bow of the boat and look over the ocean and worry about things and think about things."

Interviews included Dr. Stephen Kress, the "Puffin Man" who successfully reintroduced puffin chicks from Canada to an island in Maine that 34 years later sports full, well-populated colonies on three islands. She also spoke to Dr. Carl Wilson, a marine biologist who concentrates on lobstering.

"I thought ‘what do we do next to raise awareness,’" Cabot said. "I’m an artist so I thought why not create an art competition about oceans."

The From the Bow Seat organization receives more than 2,000 submissions each year, and more than $100,000 in scholarships has been given to teachers and schools from it.

She, too, feels climate change is the biggest threat facing the planet not only because of the sea level rise, which Cabot said is frightening enough.

"The warming of the water causes the intensity of the storms to increase," Cabot said. "It (also) has huge repercussions on animal sea life and wild life."

Barbara Burgess and Donna Hazard, W2O co-founders, contacted her about bringing her passion to their organization five years ago.

"There is so much overlap," Cabot said. "To see the next generation become aware and becoming care takers makes me become hopeful and feel better about the future."

In a press release Burgess called the women of W2O a dedicated group who turned W2O into an influential organization.

"We have championed sustainable seafood. We advocated for the first national marine monument in the Atlantic," Burgess said. "We raised awareness about the problem of ocean noise pollution on marine life. We worked to encourage plastic bag bans in communities to protect marine animals. Our work goes on, and it is rewarding every day."

For more information on Women Working For Oceans, visit womenworkingforoceans.org.